18
δικαιος εστιν κυριος οτι το στομα αυτου παρεπικρανα ακουσατε δη παντες οι λαοι και ιδετε το αλγος μου παρθενοι μου και νεανισκοι μου επορευθησαν εν αιχμαλωσια
Lamentations 1:18
Arcana Coelestia # 6413
6413. 'Is a hind let loose' means the freedom that natural affection possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hind' as natural affection, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'let loose' as freedom, for when a hind that has been captured is let loose it has freedom. Freedom from a state of temptations is compared to 'a hind let loose' because a hind is a woodland creature that loves more than all others to be free. The natural too is like this, for it loves to engage in what delights its affections and therefore to feel free; for freedom is the hallmark of affection. The reason 'a hind' means natural affection is that it is one of the beasts that serve to mean the affections, all of which beasts can be used as food and are useful creatures, such as lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, as well as bulls, young bulls, and also cows. Yet these beasts also serve to mean spiritual affections because burnt offerings and sacrifices were made of them, whereas 'hinds', because they were not put to that use, served to mean natural affections. For 'beasts' and their meaning affections, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 3519, 5198; and the fact that their meaning affections has its origin in representatives in the world of spirits, 3218, 5850.
[2] Natural affections are also meant by 'hinds' in David,
Jehovah makes my feet like those of hinds, and sets me on my high places. Psalms 18:33.
And in Habakkuk,
Jehovih the Lord is my strength, who places my feet like those of hinds, and causes me to walk on my high places. Habakkuk 3:19.
'Placing feet like those of hinds' stands for the natural when its affections are in freedom, 'feet' being the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328. This meaning of 'placing feet like those of hinds may be seen from the fact there is nothing spiritual about making a person's feet like those of hinds, nimble and fit to run with. Yet the idea does have a spiritual implication, as is evident from the references that immediately follow to being set by Jehovah on high places and caused to walk on them, meaning spiritual affection on a level above natural affection. The same applies to the following words in Isaiah,
The lame man will leap like a hart. Isaiah 35:6.
'The lame man' means a person who is governed by good, though not as yet by genuine good, 4302.
[3] In David,
As the hart cries out for the water brooks, 1 so does my soul cry out for You. Psalms 42:1.
Here 'the hart' stands for the affection for truth, 'crying out for the water brooks' for desiring truths, 'waters' being truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668.
[4] In Jeremiah,
There has gone out from the daughter of Zion all her majesty; her princes have become like harts, they have not found pasture. Lamentations 1:6.
'The daughter of Zion' stands for the affection for good, the affection the celestial Church has, 2362. 'Princes stands for the first and foremost truths of that Church, 1482, 2089, 5044, which truths are compared to 'harts', by which affections for natural truth are meant. And by harts that 'have not found pasture' are meant natural affections devoid of truths and forms of good that go with them, 'pasture' being truth and the good of truth that sustain a person's spiritual life, see 6078, 6277.
[5] 'Hinds' is used in a similar way in Jeremiah,
The land was broken up in pieces because no rain had come to be on the land; the farmers were put to shame, they covered their heads, because even the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass. Jeremiah 14:4-5.
'The hind' stands for an affection for natural good, 'calved in the field' for joining natural affections to spiritual ones which exist in the Church. Yet because those affections were devoid of truths and forms of good, it says that she left the field because there was no grass. Anyone can see that these things said about the hind have an inner meaning, for without it what point would there be in saying that the hind in the field calved but left because there was no grass?
[6] The same is so with what is said in David,
The voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare; but in His temple everyone says, Glory. Psalms 29:9.
The existence of an inner meaning, which is the spiritual sense, within the statement that 'the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve' is perfectly clear from the fact that immediately afterwards it says, 'but in His temple everyone says, Glory'. Without the spiritual sense these words do not hang together with the statement before them about hinds and forests.
Notas de rodapé:
1. literally, over the brooks of waters
Genesis 21
1
Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken.
2
Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
3
Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.
4
Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
5
Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him.
6
Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me."
7
She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."
8
The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
9
Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
10
Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, Isaac."
11
The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son.
12
God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.
13
I will also make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is your seed."
14
Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder; and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
15
The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16
She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
17
God heard the voice of the boy. The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
18
Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."
19
God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink.
20
God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
21
He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
22
It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do.
23
Now, therefore, swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have lived as a foreigner."
24
Abraham said, "I will swear."
25
Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
26
Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."
27
Abraham took sheep and cattle, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant.
28
Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
29
Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?"
30
He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well."
31
Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore there.
32
So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
33
Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God.
34
Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.
